Illinois Wesleyan, led by Division III's winningest active coach Dennie Bridges, won its first-ever NCAA Division III men's basketball national championship with an 89-86 win over Nebraska Wesleyan Saturday night in the Salem Civic Center. IWU ends the year 29-2, while NWU finishes 25-6.

Illinois Wesleyan jumped out to a 49-30 halftime lead and held as much as a 23-point cushion during the first half of play. Nebraska Wesleyan countered with a 56-point second half, but was never able to take a lead during the second frame. After whittling the score down to 70-59 with 9:56 to go, NWU went on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 70-69 with 6:43 to go. Chris Boesiger hit a 3-pointer to start the run, Chad Ideus hit a lay up, and then Mitch Mosser hit a 3-pointer and two free throws to cap the run. But the Plainsmen were never able to get over the hump. Brent Niebrugge then converted a lay up for IWU and Nathan Hubbard converted two free throws to get the score back to 74-69. After a made jumper by Chad Ideus hit a jumper, Nathan Hubbard drained a 3-pointer for the Titans and IWU was not threatened again.

In the first half, IWU star Bryan Crabtree poured in 19 points, including 7-of-10 field goals, 2-2 3-pointers and 3-3 free throws. Freshman point guard Korey Coon also contributed 12 points and he controlled the flow of the game. The Titans ended up hitting 66.7 percent from the field (18-27) and held NWU to 38.7 percent. NWU opened the second half by draining four 3-pointers on their first four scores. The 3-point barrage was led by Mitch Mosser, who hit 7-of-9 treys in the second half.

All of Moser's 23 points came in the second half, on 7-of-13 3-pointers and 2-of-2 free throws. Center Nate Thomas contributed 24 points and 12 rebounds, while Chad Ideus scored 21 points and Kipp Kissinger had 14 points. Crabtree led all scorers with a game-high 28 points and forward Brent Niebrugge fired in 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Korey Coon finished up with 17 points and Nathan Hubbard contributed 10.

Quotes From Nebraska Wesleyan Coach Todd Raridon

"I guess first of all -- we had a bad start. It was unfortunate, we got caught standing around in their zone. I'm really proud of this ballclub for its second half. Illinois Wesleyan has a very good team."

"This team hasn't quit all year-- I didn't expect them to this time. We had our chances."

"Defensively, we just weren't moving our feet in the first half. You can't do that in a championship game."

On 3-Guard Offense In 2nd-Half-- "It actually helped. We got back in the game with a small lineup. We probably should have done it earlier. It's something we hadn't done all year."

"I think we attacked better in the second half-- we had a lot of open three's in the second half that went in."

After Closing Margin From 23 to 1-- "I told them that they had made a great comeback. I was confident we would win. We didn't make the plays and Illinois Wesleyan did."

Quotes From Illinois Wesleyan Coach Dennie Bridges

"The truth of the matter is when it came time to suck it up, these guys found a way to win. Now they have something they can take with them all their lives, a national championship. I've been at this 32 years trying to get something this nice."

"I thought the T.V. timeouts had a great effect on the game. They allowed us to have our players play a number of long minutes. Normally I don't like them, because they break the rhythm of the game, but tonight I think they were a benefit."

"I told myself it would be O.K. to go home 28-3 and second in the nation. But I also said you have so very few chances to be national champions and there's such a huge difference between being national champions and runner-up. Thankfully this chance didn't get away."

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Damien Hunter, Alvernia College

Michael Nogelo, Williams College

Mitch Mosser, Nebraska Wesleyan University

Korey Coon, Illinois Wesleyan University

Bryan Crabtree, Illinois Wesleyan University (MVP)